"Car Badges of the World"

By Tim Nicholson. 138 pp. 8 4/5 in. x 6 1/2 in. (Cassell and Co. Ltd., 35, Red Lion Square, London, WC1. £1.65.)

The prolific Nicholson had an obvious one when he thought up a car-badge compendium and sold the notion to Cassells. The finished product catches the eye by reason of the carefully executed coloured badges—130 of them—by John Stokes. These cover cars old and new, from 14 different Nations, including Russia. The effect is interesting and very “browseworthy”, and Stokes’ contribution is probably greater than Nicholson’s because the latter tries to explain the origin and reason behind these radiator emblems but doesn’t always succeed, so that sometimes he just provides a potted history of the make, not the badge, to accompany an illustration. His task, admittedly, is made casual because only one badge was allocated per make, whereas frequently a number of badge variations is called for. But one is surprised that no reference is made to two different shades of blue within the Riley diamond denoting the engine size of the RM series of cars, or to the different-colour vintage Bentley badges which gave rise to the “Red Label” designation. On the whole, however, a very desirable book, useful to restorers, artists, model makers or mere “readers”. How long, I wonder, before Nicholson gives us one on car mascots?—W. B.